Sunday, February 29, 2004

Getting most out of Series 60 - My selected gems

There are numerous shortcuts that help you get most out of your Series 60 phones, which are not very well know. I thought that it could be nice to share some of them here on Moving Experiences. They are not in any specific order.

Customizing the idle display application short cutsGetting quick access to frequently used applications is crucial. You can change the default softkey labels from Phone settings under the Standby mode, You can select from the pre-installed applications and some selected frequently used commands like New Message.I use the Camera on the left, because I like one click access to the Camera and Calendar on the right as I use my 6600 as my main Calendar, and I generally do not remember where I need to be next.

One key profile toggleThe Power key can be used as a one directional scroll and once the desired profile is highlighted the power key can be press and held and the desired profile is selected. Pressing the power key 4 times and holding it down turns phone into Silent

Long press on right softkey enables voice commandsThe voice commands can be activated by pressing and holding the right softkey, this is independent of the labeled short cut. The possible commands can be recorded in the Voice com. application which is in the Tools folder.

Easy digit entry in alpha modeHave you ever been annoyed how cumbersome it is to change the text input mode, when you just need to enter a single digit.A long press on number keys 0-9 in alpha mode creates a number entry without changing the input mode.

Shortcut to frequently used applicationsBy pressing the application key and a number between 1-9 will launch the application which is in the same place as the Apps key and number launches application matching place in grid of 9.

One touch diallingAre you constantly dialling the same numbers? Assign them into speed dials, you can have 8 of them (digits 2-9). 1 is reserved for Voice mail and 0 for Services. You can help your memory by assigning the Speed dial so that the characters on the number key match the first character of the Speed dial. Make sure you have turned on the Speed Dial in Call Settings, it is off by default.

One key Multi-taskingPress and hold the Apps key and you will enter a small pop up menu with the open applications. You can start scrolling the open applications using the Apps key. Once the right application is highlighted you can press and hold to select it. You can ofcourse use the joystic as well.

Easy closing of applicationsFrom the Applications short cut list you can easily close applications. Scroll to the application and press the C key and confirm with left soft key or OK.Easy erasing of received messagesIf have lots of messages you want to delete the easiest way to do that is to use the C-key and then confirming with the left soft key.

Naming your phoneAn old trick for naming Nokia phones is to create a new profile with desired attributes and then name the profile according to your first name or whatever you want to call your phone.

For fast message sending create a group of oneIf you are sending alot of messages to a single person make a group of that person and you have quicker access. I created a group of my wife and I find it quite handy, when I want to send off an MMS.

The handset key has some nice shortcutsIf you are in a picture details view, you can save a click by pressing the send key directly, you are offered the different sending options directly. If you are in Messaging and have a message open or are in the inbox, you can make a call to sender directly.

Update June 05: Muting the Nokia Jingle at start upIf you are in a place where you do not want anyone to know you are turning on the phone, then pressing either scroll keys (Up / Down) will terminate the sound. (Thanks Charlie)

Update June 05: Customizing the idle shortcutsThis is one of the most useful new features in Series 60, an ability to modify the idle short cuts. It is possible in all Nokia S60 phones after the SW update from September to the 7610. I have put Lifeblog on the Right SK or sometimes on the scroll left as it is logically the opposite of a calendar which is on scroll right. The reason it is on scroll right is that you then can scroll to thenext day without moving your finger (clever!).

Update June 05: UppgradingI flash my hpnes alot when I have new prototypes and I uppgrade my phones maybe 3-4 times a year. It is a hassle everytome, but I have started to do the following. I use the data transfer for Calendar and Phonebook, it will preserve the Default numbers. I also use Lifeblog, by taking a back up of the phone and then selecting the new phone as my new preferred phone, after that Lifeblog will push all my favourite pictures, videos and sms to the new phone. What has to be done is downloading the settings, setting the speed dials and tuning the calendar, the menu structure. It takes about 2h to do it so this is somethingthat needs fixing...

I plan to update this post as I remeber more little things that are perfectly natural to me, but are not very widespread among users. Let me know if you have some additional ones and can add them as well.

Comments

Unlocking in the dark
If your phone is locked and you are in the dark, press the power key to light up the screen (it's the only key that will turn the screen on when locked), then unlock the phone (left softkey, *) as usual.

Other useful profiles...
I have a profile named "Loud" that rings at maximum volume and vibrates. I use this in the server room where it is difficult to here.

On an unrelated topic, is it possible to remove the Tools, Extras or Utilities folder? I don't find this folder naming convention useful. (When is something a Tool, when is it an Extra, and when is it a Utility?) Will renaming these folders cause any problems?

Awhile back, I found a nifty wiki with a bunch of Symbian tips and tricks, advice and links on it. It'd be nice if we could consolidate them all in one place. Would you mind crossposting these very helpful tips to the wiki?

I have one for alarm clock, so that I can keep my phone open (and can later see who has tried to reach me. People don't always leave messages..). Alarm clock profile: everything else on silent and alarm sounds working: phone is on but you wake up when your are supposed to.

Do you know any applications with which you can have more choice and mayby time your profiles?

when viewing a photo in the images folder, you can use the numberpad to zoom in and out and rotate more easily than going into the menu everytime.
On my Nokia 3650(with its unique numberpad layout):
1 Zooms in
0 Zooms out
2 rotates anti-clockwise
9 rotates clockwise

I spent a few minutes cleaning out the images folder on my MMC yesterday and thought of this thread. Two important tips to keep your Nokia 6600 at top speed:

1) Make sure that your images folder doesn't contain too many images. Once you start getting into the hundreds, the phone will take longer and longer to save the image (I assume it's looking for the next free number to post). Better to move the images to your PC or another folder. (Speaking of memory - use the settings in your Inbox, Camera and Video to save to the MMC by default so you don't run out of space.)

2) Themes are also a speed-hog. The more complex the theme, the slower the 6600 response times are. Unless you're in love with your theme, using the default makes your phone much more snappy (but not as snappy, for some reason, as the 3650).

Shortcut to browser
Long press the '0' button to access the Services browser.

Posted by: Sarjoun Skaff at Mar 18, 2004 8:41:08 PM

I need some help with my Nokia 6600 bought at GSM Phone Source a few months ago. The application menu (see picture) button is not working and I have no access to many phone features (including all apps I have installed).

Calling Nokia US customer service I was told I'd have to deal with their UK peers and would need to ship the phone to the UK, since US doesn't carry the 6600 here. They gave me a UK phone number that I have called many times but I always get trapped in a maze of non-sense navigation phone options. No matter what combination of options I try I always get to some annoying rep that tells me 1) We need a Club Nokia membership number to talk to you 2) call the International service number (that answers me with a message that that number has been discontinued 3) we don't repair US phones.

Please leave a comment or write to me at alba [at] cacheop.com if you have a suggestion.

PS: Is there a shortcut or key combination that gets me to the apps screen? That would satisfy me for now.

the best solution is to reset to the factory settings. you'll loose all your data saved in your phone memory(not memory card) but it's worth doing this. after i installed a wrong program my phone kept showing "system error"
but now it works fine. here is how you can do this.

switch the phone off
press the power button and before it switch on press these three buttons " green * 3 " and hold till you see "formatting" make sure you have enough charge. after that your phone is healed works perfect the day you bought her.
oh god i love this phone!!!
just email me a thanks!

Posted by: aytekin at May 3, 2004 3:39:57 AM

where the hell i find out what my IMEI is?

Posted by: vagner at Nov 24, 2004 6:06:09 PM

Type *#0000# to find your IMEI

Posted by: dodgyrabbit at Nov 29, 2004 12:02:15 PM

Correction: *#0000# will provide your firmware versions.

To find your IMEI number, type *#06#

Posted by: dodgyrabbit at Nov 29, 2004 12:05:24 PM

You can indeed remove the tools, utilities, extras, pay as you go or whatever other folders you like from your phone. You need to move the contents first though.

I created a folder called junk - for everything I didn't want. I then went into each folder and moved items out - either to the menu level (for things I used regularly) or to the junk folder (for things I didn't need). I also moved top level items that were no use to me - like presence and chat - into the junk folder.

hi,
i need to know if the calendar has alarm feature for memos & whether TO DO can have alarms as well?
my t68i did have these features & i miss them a lot on my nokia 6600.
Thanks for summing up all these nice tips & shortcuts.
also what is the latest firmware for nokia 6600?
Thanks,
raj

Posted by: Raj at Jan 12, 2005 3:58:33 PM

Hi Christian,
great blog. i am a regular visitor of your blog. Is it possible for you to shed some light on Series 60, UIQ, and other competing UI in detail. Maybe a detailed comparison, + and - of each UI's, will be an excellent source of information for many in the industry.
BR,
Aqdas